The present invention relates to exercise methods and apparatus and more particularly, to exercise equipment which facilitates exercise through a curved path of motion.
Exercise equipment has been designed to facilitate a variety of exercise motions. For example, treadmills allow a person to walk or run in place; stepper machines allow a person to climb in place; bicycle machines allow a person to pedal in place; and still other machines allow a person to skate and/or stride in place. Yet another type of exercise equipment has been designed to facilitate relatively more complicated exercise motions and/or to better simulate real life activity. Such equipment typically uses a linkage assembly to convert a relatively simple motion, such as circular, into a relatively more complex motion, such as elliptical. Despite many such advances in the art, room for improvement remains.
The present invention may be seen to provide a novel linkage assembly and corresponding exercise apparatus suitable for linking circular motion to relatively more complex, generally elliptical motion. On a preferred embodiment, for example, left and right connector links are rotatably interconnected between respective cranks and intermediate portions of respective foot supports, and are constrained to pivot in their entirety about a common pivot axis on a floor engaging frame. The foot supports have first ends pivotally connected to respective rocker links which pivot about a common rocker axis on the frame. Opposite, second ends of the foot supporting links are sized and configured to support a person""s feet. The arrangement is such that the person""s feet move through elliptical paths which may be adjusted by selectively relocating the pivot axis and/or the rocker axis. Additional features of the present invention may become more apparent from the more detailed description set forth below.